Howdy, folks. I’m back from my trip but still just lazing about the house for a few days and continuing a long, proud tradition of low-effort headers. Please be good to each other and take some time off if you … Continue reading The WPT is still on Leave

Hi all. Your fearless WPT host is on vacation. Please enjoy some new pics of birds I’ve already covered. The header is an Allen’s hummingbird, followed by a Himalayan monal pheasant and the ever-impressive resplendent quetzal. Be good to each … Continue reading The WPT is in Reruns

This week’s bird is the greater roadrunner, another member of the cuckoo family.  It lives in scrubby areas of the US and Mexico, in an ecological region referred to as “Aridoamerica.”  Like last week’s bird it is capable of brief … Continue reading The WPT Makes a Break for It

I picked this week’s bird, the Guira cuckoo, because I assumed it was a brood parasite like the cuckoo last week.  It is not.  Brood parasitism is apparently a characteristic more typical of Old World cuckoos.  The guira cuckoo lives in … Continue reading The WPT gets a Stank Going

Hi, friends.  The word of the day is “echoic,” which is a synonym of onomatopoeic, which means the word sounds like the thing it is describing.  Our bird this week is the Asian koel, whose name is echoic, it is … Continue reading The WPT has No Strong Feelings on Cocoa Puffs

Howdy, friends.  I hope everyone’s week went well.  This week’s bird is the Hildebrandt’s Starling, which is closely related to, you might say “in a superspecies with” the chestnut-bellied starling and Shelly’s starling.  Taken together, the range these birds occupy … Continue reading The WPT Went Nuts with the Bird Photos

Howdy, friends.  Our bird this week is the rock ptarmigan.  I was looking for birds that live in cold climates, on account of the snow day I am enjoying while writing this.  The rock ptarmigan lives in high latitudes in … Continue reading The WPT Wants to Rock

This week’s header was suggested by Moo, thanks @disqus_6nGGCLBk8m:disqus ! Our bird this week is the sword-billed hummingbird (hereafter SBH), and I would be remiss if I didn’t start by saying that this bird’s Latin name, Ensifera means “sword-wielder,” which I think we … Continue reading The WPT Brought a Sword to a Bird Fight

Our subject this week is a the Bohemian Waxwing.  I learned several things about this bird, but the one that stuck out the most to me was the word “altricial.”  Waxwing chicks are born altricial, as opposed to precocial.  Altricial … Continue reading The WPT Does Not Lead to Copulation

This week’s bird is the yellow-crowned gonolek.  It lives on the opposite end of Africa from last week’s bird, with a range from Guinea in the west through Burkina Faso, Ghana and Nigeria in the east.  Every source I went … Continue reading The WPT Skulks About

I came across this bird while looking for interesting birds that call Africa home and immediately knew I had to share.  Join me in checking out/gawking at the vulturine guineafowl.  Look at all this bird has going on!  The stripes, … Continue reading The WPT is Vulturine

This week’s bird is the orange lorikeet. I was trying to find some fun facts about it, but the most I could find is that it is not considered threatened due to its wide range across New Guinea and that it … Continue reading The WPT is Doing its Thing

Howdy, PT friends. This week’s bird is the Common Redpoll. I was looking for birds that live in the cold, and while it certainly does that, it is also another world traveler like our last few. Dig this: “a bird … Continue reading The WPT is Fluffy Against the Cold

Howdy, friends. I hope all those who celebrate had a peaceful and delicious Thanksgiving holiday. House Killsock stayed in, watched an old movie and played an old entry of Mario Party. Specifically Hitchcock’s Rope and Mario Party 6 on Gamecube. … Continue reading The WPT is Trying to be Funny

This week’s header is a two-fer. I learned about this week’s bird, the Pacific Golden Plover, while reading about an “extreme trans-Neptunian object” (TNO) called 541132 Leleākūhonua. It was so named because it’s extremely elongated orbit around the sun reminded … Continue reading The WPT is a Distant Space Rock

This week’s bird in the Eurasian Hoopoe, a small bird which really seems to punch about its weight, culturally speaking. Here are some excerpts from the Wikipedia entry: “They were considered sacred in Ancient Egypt, and were “depicted on the walls … Continue reading The WPT Rocks a Crest

Hello, again, faithful readers. This week I bring you the bar-tailed godwhit. This indefatigable little bird migrates from the arctic circle to New Zealand, the longest journey by any bird and the longest journey without pausing to feed by any … Continue reading The WPT is a Good Creature

Hi Politics people. This week’s bird is the Northern Pintail. I thought this duck looked neat, and we’re all going to learn about it. Have a weekend! “The pintail or northern pintail (Anas acuta) is a duck species with wide geographic distribution that breeds in the northern areas … Continue reading The WPT Thought this Duck Looked Like Fall

Have a bird, have a weekend, I’ve got to go to work. Continue reading The WPT Throws Something Together

This week’s bird is the painted bunting, which is nicknamed “nonpareil,” without equal. I was surprised to learn that this bird lives and winters all up and down the east coast of the US, because I’ve lived there for essentially … Continue reading The WPT is Without Equal

This week’s bird is a tiny little critter called the Goldcrest. I havent had much time to learn about it, but apparently it likes to hang out with tits, which I’m sure we all agree is hilarious. Have some birds, … Continue reading The WPT is Golden